As the popularity of peer-to peer (P2P) communications has increased, the amount of network capacity consumed by P2P applications has increased. For example, customers may share content such as audio, video, and data files, using P2P communications. The peer endpoint devices may be located anywhere with an Internet access. Hence, the communication between the peer endpoint devices may be over large distances, e.g., thousands of miles.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may then have to dedicate a large amount of their core and edge network capacity for handling P2P traffic. As the usage of P2P applications grows, an ISP may be unable to support millions of P2P application users in a cost effectively manner. Furthermore, the P2P traffic may overload the network, thereby causing a degradation of the performance of the entire network.